History of Father's Day

Father’s Day is a special day to honor not only our dads but those who’ve been a father figure to us. In the United States, Father’s Day falls on the third Sunday of the month of June.

It is believed that the idea for a “father’s day” started in 1909 when Sonora Louise Smart Dodd, after hearing mass on Mother’s Day, realized that fathers like her own dad, William Jackson Smart, should also be honored.

William Smart lost his wife after she gave birth to their sixth child. After her death, William Smart raised all his six children, a huge responsibility for any single parents. It is because of William Smart’s selfless love that Sonora thought of having a “father’s day”. This idea spread throughout her Spokane Washington hometown.

On June 19, 1910, the first celebration of Father’s Day occurred which was also the birthday of William Smart.

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge would further support this day and in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson declared that Father’s Day be celebrated every third Sunday of June. Finally in 1972, President Richard Nixon made Father’s Day a permanent national observance.

Happy Father’s Day!